Finding Enlightenment…Again

by Melody Fletcher on March 27, 2011

We all seek it. Whether we know it or not, we’re all looking for enlightenment, in our own way. A lot of people think that if they just study the right philosophy, find the right answers, figure out the right method, that they’ll finally “get” it. Understanding will lead to an enlightened state. I’d like to proffer a different theory.

Enlightenment isn’t a state of knowing. It’s not like a degree, where you can put in your time, read a few books, listen to a few professors, accumulate enough knowledge and pass a test which will brand you officially enlightened. It doesn’t matter what you know or what you’re studying. Your IQ has nothing to do with it. Enlightenment isn’t about data or facts or any kind of measurable knowledge at all.

Enlightenment is a state of feeling. To me, the state of enlightenment is achieved when you’re able to raise your vibration high enough that it matches the frequency of Who You Really Are. When you access this state, you have access to all Universal Knowledge. You’re flooded with information and insights and everything, yes EVERYTHING suddenly makes sense. You can’t gather enough knowledge to get to this state – but getting there provides you with all the knowledge you’ve ever wanted.

Because our emotions are our vibrational feedback system, letting us know how close or far away we are from the frequency of Who We Really Are, it stands to reason that we can’t think our way there, we have to feel our way to the top of that scale. What does it feel like? Think of the happiest you’ve ever been in your life. Now triple it. Than square it. Then add chocolate sprinkles. In short, enlightenment is the absolute highest emotional state we can achieve. It’s better than pizza. It’s better than sex (yes, even really good sex), it’s better than anything else we can imagine. We are always, ALWAYS striving to feel better, in everything we do. And Enlightenment is the goal, the end state, the final destination, the big enchilada.

But here’s the thing: Achieving enlightenment and staying there are two entirely different things. I can honestly say that I’ve had glimpses of enlightenment on several occasions in my life. For very brief periods, I aligned with this incredibly high frequency – sometimes by accident, and sometimes by design. But I was never able to hold it. My core vibration wasn’t close enough to that level to keep me there. I’m still too influenced by the energies around me and by my own limiting thoughts to stabilize at that frequency.

This is why you can have a life-changing insight one day, then go on with your life, only to have that same life changing insight AGAIN, six months later. How could you forget something so important, so big, so monumental? You reached a frequency that gave you access to knowledge and understanding, but weren’t able to stay there. So the understanding was lost. Until you found it again.

I would guess that most of us have at least gotten close to the state of enlightenment at one time or another in our lives. A calm moment of extreme clarity, a rush of delirious joy, an overwhelming feeling of love for everything and everyone. The idea is to get there consciously – by design, rather than just by accident. And then, to find it again. And again. Until eventually, we can keep ourselves there longer and longer and go there any time we want to.

Enlightenment isn’t something that we can figure out intellectually. We’re going to have to get all gooey and emotional here. We have to feel our way there. Search for the better feeling perspective on everything. Find the better feeling. Then make sure you can stay there. Then go for an even better feeling. And so on and so on. And when you glimpse it, when you have that rush of enlightened understanding, don’t be surprised if you can’t stay there long. That’s ok. A little look-see is all you need. It’ll change you forever. Once you’ve found that feeling deliberately, you’ll be able to zero in on it again more easily. And more importantly, once you’ve experienced that level of joy, you’ll never EVER put up with feeling anything less than happy again.

Have you had a glimpse of enlightenment? Share it with us in the comments.

I’m browsing again… GREAT post! To me, this one is so important, you could recycle the information now that you have more readers.

One aspect that strikes me about this heightened state (not going to go all the way to call it enlightenment for me) is that over time and with practice, I’m not as up tight about trying to hang on to the moment. It’s like bathing in intense starlight. When it comes, it’s like, yes! cool! And then in a little while, it’s gone, but I’m still way happy. Recognizing the ephemeral nature lets me relax with the feelings. Lately, I get there pretty much every day.

I’m starting to recognize too that “enlightenment” doesn’t always feel the same. Sometimes lately when I’m up there with the stars, I’m still thinking about practical stuff. I always thought that was a no-no, but the thoughts are so clear and the flow so strong, it doesn’t feel wrong at all.

Your thoughts on circularity are spot on to me too, and they apply to so many things. Once we accept that things change all the time, it’s a lot easier to detach from the details. For example, if a friend is a little cool, I can think, – hmm he’s not having a great day – instead of – OMG what did I do wrong?

Another big step for me was letting improvement be incremental. For example, years ago I was so shut down I couldn’t recognize my own anger at all. Months later, I learned to realize, wait a minute, I was angry yesterday. I still can’t react immediately from anger (a good thing, IMO), but at least now I think I’m aware pretty quickly when I feel it.

Thanks again for sharing your wonderful self and your insights. Whenever I need a pick-me-up, or I just want to relax with an online friend, I read another of your posts. You are appreciated!

Yay! Comments on my old posts! He, he. Yeah, I guess I could start recycling some of these. Or I could just trust that the Law of Attraction will lead everyone to exactly the right post at the perfect time.

What you’re saying makes perfect sense. When you stress out about staying at a higher vibration, you immediately lower your vibration. So you can’t care too much about hanging on to it. Just bask in that and when it leaves, be ok with that too. Since you can get back there any time… It’s fantastic that you’ve figured that out.

It’s all about recognizing our feelings and then evaluating where they REALLY came from. It’s awesome that you’re seeing your anger from a different perspective and not taking other people’s actions personally anymore. As good as I’ve become at that, I still get triggered from time to time. But it’s a really good thing. I’ve come to realize that I don’t have to get to the point where no one is ever able to trigger me anymore, but rather to see those moments for what they are: someone mirroring a limiting belief back to me. I want them to trigger me when I’ve got something to clean up. There’s a lot of information in those incidents.

Well, it certainly sounds like you’ve raised your vibration quite a bit. Stumbling into a higher state once a decade is a far cry from getting there every few months. Soon, it may be every couple of weeks. Yay!

The trick is not to beat up on ourselves when we “fall” back out of it, but just to appreciate that we got there at all. That will keep us open to getting back there sooner.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Arvind. That’s such a beautiful post. And isn’t it great to realize that you’re much closer to enlightenment than you may have thought. It’s some some unattainable goal that Jesus and Buddah “got” but which you must always strive for. Even those gentlemen weren’t enlightened 100% of the time. and that’s ok. Life is about variety. But when we do line up like that, when we look into the eyes of a small child, or an animal, or just have a moment of bliss, oooooooh. That’s when we get a glimpse of how amazing life can really be.